Image sensors made of semiconductor elements are known in the art. An article providing an over-view of such image sensors by H. Herbst appears in "Elektronik-Praxis", No. 9 September 1978, pages 12 to 14. The construction and use of such semiconductor image sensors involves circuitry requiring an utmost integration capability. Hence, great demands are made on the production technology. This is especially true if the output signals which are outputted by the sensor, for example, after incidence of radiation on the sensor, are only very small.
It is also known to provide a read-out electrode structure on the surface of the image sensor such as a CCD-array. The read-out electrode structure in the form of parallel strips is applied to the sensor. Electrode configurations are disclosed in German Patent Publication (DE) 3,817,153 A1, corresponding to U.S. Ser. No.: 07/354,469, filed May 19, 1989 which is not a prior publication with regard to the present priority date of Nov. 23, 1988.
European Patent Publication 0,309,927 (Laucht et al.), published on Apr. 6, 1989, discloses an image distance sensor that could be used in conjunction with the present invention. The disclosure of said European patent publication is incorporated herein by reference.
It is known to use image sensors in various image detection systems, for example, in distance measuring and proximity warning systems are disclosed, for example, in German Patent Publication (DE) 3,640,449C1, published June 30, 1988. Such sensors are also used in an automatic control and guidance system for motor vehicles travelling on a highway while maintaining a prescribed relative spacing between the vehicles travelling in a column as described in "Funkschau" Nr. 14/1988, page 42 pp. Use in a similar automatic vehicle guidance system known as "Prometheus" described in "Bild der Wissenschaft", Nr. 10/1988, pages 134, 135 is also possible.